Race Driver 2006
It's finally here: the first must-play racing sim on the PSP.
Published: June 21, 2006
This was supposed to be the kind of intro reserved for Gran Turismo Mobile. You know, the one where I proudly proclaim that the PSP is a technical powerhouse and that it finally has a portable driving simulation that delivers on the level of a console offering. Instead, that honor will go to Racer Driver 2006, which is technically a port of TOCA Race Driver 2 but, um, bigger.
What this means is a couple of things. You'll get tons of cars on the screen, you'll get a seemingly endless supply of nearly every type of racing vehicle on the planet, and you'll get a storyline to tie it all together. You'll get this not in some pared-down, feature-stripped version of the game, but a full, honest-to-goodness, it's-been-four-weeks-and-I'm-still-doing-new-races, staying-up-till-4AM, "just one more race" port of the original. Plus, it's got even more stuff thanks to the inclusion of the Trans-World Cup.
The TWC is easily the biggest addition, not just because it wasn't in the original console version of the game, but because it's tweaked to provide the much-vaunted 10-15 minute bursts of racing that the PSP is supposed to be all about. In reality, it makes for a good 1/3 more of the game to enjoy, which adds up to something like weeks of causal play. Even better there's now bits of gameplay that are suited to both long stretches and short bursts, which is something most PSP games can't offer, nevermind the fact that this is the first solid racing sim on the system.
Codies' Race Driver series has always done something very, very well: it gives you the chance to drive a startlingly large number of vehicles all back to back, while still managing to tie the whole mess together. This is the essence of the career mode, which peppers races that range from supercars to semi trucks (yes, really) with CG clips that help move things along as your skills in races take you from the small time to professional driver.
Along the way, you're often given the opportunity to choose the type of vehicle you want to race with, and this in turn gives you more choice in how you handle the progression of your career. It's a small thing to be sure, but it's enough to keep you from getting locked into driving one type of car that you just don't dig for too long.
It also means you can't experience the almost RPG-like fun of upgrading your car and watching how upgrades change things like handling and acceleration, but the tradeoff is frankly worth it. Of course, if you tire of being bound to the storyline, you can always race again on any of the tracks you've already completed in story mode (and add another notch in the total completion percentage in the process), but the real break comes from the Trans-World Cup.
Essentially, it's just a mish-mash of Career Mode's variety in races and the Free Race Mode's slightly more open-ended approach. The best analogue would probably be the Burnout series' World Tour Mode Mode, but even that's a stretch. You basically scoot all over the country (and later the planet) satisfying challenges that give you a number of points based on how well you did. These can be as simple as overtaking an opponent in a certain amount of time or as hard as not damaging your car for an entire race. If you can finish first or within the toughest guideline, you'll earn points, which in turn determine your overall TWC rank.
It's a staggering amount of content to chew through, helped by a simple presentation and controls that feel dead on -- d-pad or analog nub -- and a fantastic way to overcome the PSP's digital buttons. I think most have overlooked the benefit that Sony's decision to make all the buttons on the DualShock 2 controller pressure-sensitive. It's meant a far more subtle way of driving, but with the PSP, that's unfortunately lost. Developers Sumo Digital (who just finished the impressive port of OutRun 2006) devised a simple solution: instead of going from no gas or brake to floored, a meter charges fairly quickly, and drops off slowly after you let off. It allows for smoother transitions that reduce spinouts, and, when coupled with the ability to manually floor it with a double-tap, makes for some great, natural racing.
What this means is a couple of things. You'll get tons of cars on the screen, you'll get a seemingly endless supply of nearly every type of racing vehicle on the planet, and you'll get a storyline to tie it all together. You'll get this not in some pared-down, feature-stripped version of the game, but a full, honest-to-goodness, it's-been-four-weeks-and-I'm-still-doing-new-races, staying-up-till-4AM, "just one more race" port of the original. Plus, it's got even more stuff thanks to the inclusion of the Trans-World Cup.
The TWC is easily the biggest addition, not just because it wasn't in the original console version of the game, but because it's tweaked to provide the much-vaunted 10-15 minute bursts of racing that the PSP is supposed to be all about. In reality, it makes for a good 1/3 more of the game to enjoy, which adds up to something like weeks of causal play. Even better there's now bits of gameplay that are suited to both long stretches and short bursts, which is something most PSP games can't offer, nevermind the fact that this is the first solid racing sim on the system.
Codies' Race Driver series has always done something very, very well: it gives you the chance to drive a startlingly large number of vehicles all back to back, while still managing to tie the whole mess together. This is the essence of the career mode, which peppers races that range from supercars to semi trucks (yes, really) with CG clips that help move things along as your skills in races take you from the small time to professional driver.
Along the way, you're often given the opportunity to choose the type of vehicle you want to race with, and this in turn gives you more choice in how you handle the progression of your career. It's a small thing to be sure, but it's enough to keep you from getting locked into driving one type of car that you just don't dig for too long.
It also means you can't experience the almost RPG-like fun of upgrading your car and watching how upgrades change things like handling and acceleration, but the tradeoff is frankly worth it. Of course, if you tire of being bound to the storyline, you can always race again on any of the tracks you've already completed in story mode (and add another notch in the total completion percentage in the process), but the real break comes from the Trans-World Cup.
Essentially, it's just a mish-mash of Career Mode's variety in races and the Free Race Mode's slightly more open-ended approach. The best analogue would probably be the Burnout series' World Tour Mode Mode, but even that's a stretch. You basically scoot all over the country (and later the planet) satisfying challenges that give you a number of points based on how well you did. These can be as simple as overtaking an opponent in a certain amount of time or as hard as not damaging your car for an entire race. If you can finish first or within the toughest guideline, you'll earn points, which in turn determine your overall TWC rank.
It's a staggering amount of content to chew through, helped by a simple presentation and controls that feel dead on -- d-pad or analog nub -- and a fantastic way to overcome the PSP's digital buttons. I think most have overlooked the benefit that Sony's decision to make all the buttons on the DualShock 2 controller pressure-sensitive. It's meant a far more subtle way of driving, but with the PSP, that's unfortunately lost. Developers Sumo Digital (who just finished the impressive port of OutRun 2006) devised a simple solution: instead of going from no gas or brake to floored, a meter charges fairly quickly, and drops off slowly after you let off. It allows for smoother transitions that reduce spinouts, and, when coupled with the ability to manually floor it with a double-tap, makes for some great, natural racing.
